Happy 9/02/10 day

Dinner tonight

Bruschetta
Crusty bread toasted lightly on both sides in a dry pan on the stove, quickly dunked in a shallow plate of olive oil, salt and pepper and covered in chopped grape tomatoes and basil leaves.
Served with a green salad and a potato salad.

I also made a zucchini slice but the kids were so full of bruschetta and salad I've put that aside for school lunches this week. How's that for efficient? I think I need a nap.

Things not done

We had a great trip to the US, but there were a couple of important things that we weren't able to do. I am hopeful that, at some point, we'll be able to do them but it would have been great to do them this time.

The first thing we didn't do was get down to Atlanta. Mr Duyvken's sister lives there with her family. We really wanted to spend some time with them but our trip was short and flights from Boston to Atlanta were very expensive. I know that one of the things Nicole always does with visitors is take them to The Cheesecake Factory so we made sure to do that while we were in Boston. I had started to acclimatise to the comedically over-sized drinks and meal sizes by then but I was still blown away by what constitutes a child-sized serving of pasta. Wow! The food was really nice and the waitress was suitably effusive so we had a fun night and thought of the K family down south.

The other thing that I am very disappointed we missed out on was going to Worcester to meet a friend who I have only ever known online. Michelle and I met through a parenting website when we were expecting our babies born in August 2000. That feels like an age ago and even though the board we met on has long since gone our friendship has remained. It sounds like my sister will be in Boston for a while longer than I'd thought so there should be plenty more opportunities to meet up! And, Michelle? It turns out my sister's father-in-law grew up in Worcester!

So, I'd better start saving my pennies for next time.

On good intentions going bad and finding beauty in unexpected places

J started school today and to mark the occasion C and JW and I thought we would get balloons for G and J to congratulate them on a successful return/start to school and and to celebrate them being the 'girl team' at home. We stopped at the local party shop on the way to school this afternoon and selected 2 red, one pink and one yellow balloon.

The girls were very excited about it partly because they each had their own balloon and partly because they took their role as official congratulators very seriously. Unfortunately, before we even made it to the part of the school where we meet the kids C's pink balloon burst on the grass leaving her in tears and then, shortly after giving J his yellow balloon (with lots of cuddles and greetings of "decongratulations") his balloon also burst on the grass. JW's balloon followed suit before we were back at the car and only G's balloon made it all the way home. So my little balloon experiment was not the resounding success I had hoped it would be but none of the children seem permanently scarred amd J had a wonderful day with his teacher, Mr H, and his great friend, Ben. I think he's going to have a very good year.

I can end this post with another little piece of good news - when your 3 year old fills the washing machine wth laundry powder when she is supposed to be napping and you need to vacuum the machine to get it out you then discover that the rest of the house is filled with a lovely fresh perfume every time you vacuum. Without my darling C I would never have discovered this!

January

I have decided to join along with Alice, Mary, et al in taking a series of photos of the same spot throughout the year and at different times of day. I live in a temperate spot so I don't expect that there will be a dramatic variation between the photos but I am interested in joining in nonetheless.

This link will take you to Alice's post where she explains the inspiration behind the project, and this link will take you to Mary's post and her first photo.

So, that's it, the rotunda at my local park. I am hoping that those a flowering bushes in the front there, that would add a little interest at some point, don't you think?

Reading the signs

Waking up to find a sink full of glitter surely means that G and her dear friend (who also happens to be my goddaughter) had a fun sleepover.

Working on...

...a blue and yellow 'values' quilt.
It is so nice to have the sewing machine out again!

Apologies for the awful photo, Mr Duyvken gave me a fabulous new flash for Christmas and I haven't bought batteries for it yet. G and J start back at school at the end of this week so I am saving it to help distract me when that happens. J is starting school this year and, frankly, I don't think I'm ready.

Australia Day

We're eating mangoes, enjoying the sunshine and going swimming.

Enjoy yourselves, wherever you are!